The Best Is Yet To Come
by Freakin' Yoda
Summary: Entering the latest chapter in the book of TNA…sorry, Impact Wrestling, Fortune continues the fight against Immortal. Now they must deal with Hogan's order hunting the tag titles and AJ's career, plus what everyone can see save for Bobby and Stella Lynn.
1. Chapter 1

**New story time!**

**Okay, I know I have two stories I'm already working on and don't update on often enough, but after watching Impact, I just, idk, really wanted to write this. This is going to be *MUCH* shorter than my other two stories, but it will still be awesome, of course. This first chapter takes place during the May 19th, 2011 episode of IMPACT Wrestling (where Abyss won *cringes* the X-Division title, Dreamer and Bully Ray worked over a "hurt" AJ Styles and Chris Daniels, and Storm got a concussion during the opening brawl. And well..you'll see what else. All that has already taken place at this point. The other chapters will have more detailed accounts of all of Impact and definitely more AJ and Chris Daniels, but for this chapter, I really wanted to focus on introducting the OC and setting everything up.**

**Oh, and I only own Stella, and this isn't being written for money, so I'd really like it if no one sued me. Thanks! Hope you like it! And thanks to Instant Classic Superstar Pac and dreamsofhardyz for the help!**

Stella Lynn walked around nervously, biting her fingernails. Stella was a 28 year old Knockout for TNA wrestling. She was one of the founding members of the Knockout Division and a clear fan favorite. She tucked a piece of her dark brown hair behind her ear.

Robert Roode sighed watching the skinny brunette, appreciating how her pink top made her figure look and how her toned, tanned legs looked in her mini-denim skirt. _Stop it Bobby _he mentally scolded himself as his best friend and tag team partner walked over to him, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Hey bud." James Storm said, taking a sip of his beer as he adjusted his cowboy hat.

"Hey. How's the head?" Roode asked, concerned.

Storm shrugged. "Trainer said I might have a mild concussion. Should be fine in a day or two so long as I take it easy." He then looked at the unopened bottle in his other hand, before extending it to Roode. "Beer?"

"No, thanks," Bobby shook his head in decline, watching as Storm merely shrugged in response and put the bottle down on a nearby table. "And what about the others?"

"Kazarian is pretty banged up from the match but nothing serious. More upset about losing his title to Abyss than anything. Same with Daniels. We're pretty much shot for the night so we're going to head off to the hospital with AJ unless you want us to stick around." James explained, taking another drink of beer.

Roode shook his head. "Nah man. I'll be fine. Besides, if anything does happen, you four gimps can't really do anything to help, now can you?"

"You sure man?" James asked, concerned about leaving his best friend behind.

"I'm a big boy James. I can handle this." He said, before he heard Stella's voice. He turned his head to look at her again as she talked to Velvet Sky about something or other.

"Alright, just watch yourself tonight. Don't do anything stupid." James paused before glancing over at Stella. "Oh, um…by the way, you're kinda lookin' like a stalker right now." He pointed out, taking another swig of his beer.

"What?" Roode quickly turned to his best friend, embarrassed at the insinuation the Cowboy just made.

Storm gave him a hearty laugh. "Relax, man, I'm jokin'!" Roode joined in nervously just as Storm's laughter had started to fade. "But, seriously. We all know what you want, and you need to go tell that girl straight up. Even Jackie thinks so, and for God's sake, she ain't even here to see you like this."

"You still talk to Jackie?" Roode asked him, somewhat surprised by this information.

"Course I do! It's Beer Money! The three of us, we're like this!" Storm replied in earnest as he crossed his fingers for emphasis, but soon stopped as he saw a small look of guilt on his financially-inclined best friend's face. "Wait…you don't keep in touch well, do ya?"

Roode gave a reaction tha would best be described as a chuckling scoff. "Are you kidding me? She only calls me, like, five times a year. And I haven't had a chance to return the favor since we got with Flair."

"Wow, that's practically a whole year," Storm remarked, slightly marveling at the lack of communication anymore between two of his best friends. "Anyway, seriously. You gotta go talk to that girl, man."

"Go talk to…wait, we're not talking about Jackie anymore, are we?" Roode quickly realized.

Storm shook his head. "Nope." Another drink of beer.

Roode sighed in reply. "Look. James. I don't want to press things right now, you know. We're in the middle of a war with a bunch of guys trying to take over the company we built down here and remake it in their image like some sort of new world movement or something. I can't get thrown off by taking chances with things getting awkward or going downhill between me and Stella right now. You guys might get hurt because of me if I let that happen."

"So, basically you're scared of gettin' shot down?" Storm assessed, being utterly blunt at the moment.

"Do you really have to put it that way?" An exasperated Roode questioned.

"Yeah. I do," Storm nodded chipperly, as Roode sighed in response. "Look, somebody's gotta tell you like it is. I mean, I know what you're saying about the domino effect this could have on Fortune if it goes bad."

"And I think it's something you should take seriously," Roode insisted.

"But there's the other side o' that. If it goes well, that's a huge pickup. You know how much motivation you could get off that?" Storm reasoned.

"That's still a pretty big risk to take just to see me with a woman, you know?" Roode retorted.

"Bobby, the situation between you two, it is right there. Everyone can see it. It's like you and Stella are the only ones that can't," Storm affirmed, completely undeterred by Roode's objections as he put an arm around the older guy. "Besides, are we or are we not the same group that stood tall when Ric Flair stabbed us in the back for Immortal's brass ring, and then when he helped Bully Ray powerbomb AJ off the stage and through a table?"

The Wizard of Wall Street had no choice but to nod in agreement; Storm was telling the truth.

"Exactly. So you can rest assured that if things get wonky and you end up losing your focus, which I don't think you will anyway, the four of us can pick up the slack. So, you got nothing to be afraid of."

"At least," he concluded with a sly smile, "not unless you're just scared of gettin' shot down." He brought the bottle of beer to his lips, taking another swig.

"Okay, okay! Fine!" Roode threw his hands up, finally giving in to his buddy's persuasions. "I'll talk to her tonight."

"Details tomorrow?" Storm asked, his eyebrows perking with mischievous interest.

"Sure. Whatever. Just…let me take care of this on my own, okay?" Roode implored.

"Hey, it's your life," Storm said nonchalantly, before…

"Hey James!" a voice called out to them from behind the Tennessee Cowboy.

The Beer Money, Inc. duo turned toward the other side of the hallway near the parking lot, where Christopher Daniels, the man who that voice belonged to, was standing with Frankie Kazarian.

"Come on, man, we don't have all day here!" Kazarian shouted.

"You're sure keeping our friends waiting getting in my business," Roode quipped toward Storm, hoping the younger man would get the message.

"Shut up and _handle_ your business like you belong here," Storm replied without any trace of holding back, before tapping him on the shoulder and giving him a quick five. "Seriously, Bobby, take care. I'm out."

"Right. Thanks." Roode said, as the two quietly waved to each other and Storm walked off in the direction of Kaz and Christopher. Looking at the three of them, Roode couldn't help but to smile. Storm was one hundred percent correct about the strength of the union. Fortune was like an unfaltering brotherhood of success that could never be deterred; possibly the strongest faction Roode had ever seen in his time with the company. Being that they were representative of all those men over the years whose hard work had indeed laid the groundwork to the success of what was now Impact Wrestling, about the only part of this that ever surprised him was just how incapable Eric Bischoff was of getting it.

Bobby had always envisioned, as Ric Flair once did, that Fortune would be the benchmark of the company, even laying this out in so many terms once on an episode of ReAction back when Fortune was "in league" with Immortal. Being a part of the collective personally, alongside his best friend and tag team championship partner to boot, was the one thing he was most proud of in his career. He was fortunate, pardon the pun, to have friends like them in the middle of all this, knowing without a shadow of a doubt, had they either not been worse for the wear or had he asked them to, they would have stayed to watch his back.

"Do it for Fortune!" Kazarian suddenly shouted, shaking Roode out of his thoughts as he threw up the group's signature hand gesture, despite the fact that there wasn't any specific "it" that statement was backing that he knew of.

Roode, marveled at the fitting timing of Kaz's rallying call, chuckled at his friend's antics. "You got it!" He reciprocated the gesture, throwing up the handsign as well.

As Storm ran over and caught up to Kazarian and Daniels and Kaz and Roode both put down their Fortune hands, Robert would watch the others turn to the right and leave his sight, before direcing his attention to a, once again, pacing Stella Lynn. He frowned, knowing why she was upset. That night she had watched four of her closest friends be decimated by Immortal and here he was about to go down to the ring, a good possibility that he could become Immortal's fifth victim by the end of the night. He knew Flair would be calling him out soon and decided he should update Stella on everyone's conditions and try to comfort her a bit before he headed to the ring and slowly took off towards her.

He didn't see the looming figure that was standing around the corner and had been since James had gotten there.

Bobby walked up behind Stella and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Stells." He said softly, causing her to jump slightly before she turned around and was almost instantly wrapped in a hug. "James is fine." He started. "He just has a mild concussion and a headache the size of Texas. Trainers cleared Chris, but he's gonna have a boot sized bruise on his jaw come tomorrow and Frankie is gonna be feeling that match for a few days."

"And AJ?" She asked quietly into his chest, her Georgia accent clear as day.

He sighed. "He didn't get off so lucky. He's actually being taken to the hospital right now to get an MRI and X-Ray done on his neck."

She looked up at him with sad, chocolate brown eyes. He looked down at her and quickly shook his head. "Hey. Don't you get upset. I'm sure he's going to be just fine, eh." He looked over the top of her head and saw Flair making his way to the tunnel. "Stells, why don't you go get your stuff packed and I'll drive you over to the hospital after I'm done in the ring?"

She looked at him, a worried expression on your face. "Bobby, please don't go out there tonight. The rest of Fortune can't help you if you get jumped and you know how Immortal is. Just wait. Please."

He shook his head sadly, hugging her again. "Stella, I gave my word earlier that I'd go out there. I have to go to the ring tonight."

"But why Bobby? Seriously. I can't see you get hurt and I have a bad feeling about this. Just wait until next week. Please."

"I can't do that Stells." He said before releasing her from the hug. "I'm gonna be fine, I promise. Just get your stuff ready and I'll take you to see AJ when I'm done. Besides, I, uh…I have something I want…need to talk to you about."

"What's that?" She asked curiously.

He scratched the back of his head. "I can't tell you just yet because there isn't enough time. But, I probably should have brought it up a while ago. It's kinda important."

The look Stella gave him confused him. It almost looked, _hopeful_. He shook it off though, thinking nothing of it. He didn't have time to right now. He had Flair to take care of.

He heard the Nature Boy demand for him to come out and frowned. "Well, it looks like that's my cue. I'll see you in a little bit Stells."

The 5'7" brunette beauty stood up on her tip-toes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Be careful Bobby." She said, before she walked past him towards the locker room, no doubt to pack her stuff.

He placed his hand on his cheek where she had kissed him, standing in thought for a moment before a stagehand looked at him. "Do we need to play your music?"

Roode, not quite sure what had been said, looked at the smaller man confused. "What?"

"Are you going out there? Do we need to cue your music?" He asked. Roode nodded.

"Do it."

*In the ring*

Ric Flair had just entered the ring and was handed a microphone by So Cal Val. "Roode! Bobby Roode! I told you an hour ago when I told you to march, you march. Get you're a** down here solider. Now!"

_Beer. Money!_ Sounded through the arena, generating a large pop from the Impact Zone audience as Bobby Roode emerged from the tunnel in his fortune shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

"Well this much we know. The issues between Fortune and Flair date back months to the time when Fortune turned their backs on Immortal." Tenay began. "But things came to a head at Lockdown during the Lethal Lockdown cage match."

"You're not kidding." Taz agreed. "A nasty arm bar by Bobby Roode to get the win for his team and he got it on Ric Flair and tore up Ric Flair's shoulder in the process." As Taz spoke, clips from Lockdown could be seen by the viewers at home.

Back in the ring, Bobby was now standing face to face with Ric Flair, the latter of whom began to address why he had even called Bobby out. "You ever been so mad at yourself that you can't sleep at night. You can't live with yourself because you're so p***ed off about something you did. Well that would be me. I have not, I repeat, been able to sleep or live with myself since I tapped out to you in Cincinnati buddy. And I want to know what the h*** makes you think you can jump on the Nature Boy, Ric Flair, like that and live, and live in this business for any length of time going forward."

Bobby waited patiently until Flair finished his rant before he responded. "Ric, listen. With all due respect, look when you came to this company I was one of the guys you came to first. You took me under your wing, you mentored me, okay? You taught me a lot. Lockdown? That's what you're talking about. Lockdown and your shoulder? Lockdown was a war and you know it. It wasn't a wrestling match, it was a war. And one of the things that you taught me was taking opportunity. I had an opportunity that night and I took it. You taught me that." He was forced to pause as the crowd cheered in approval.

"And what happened at Lockdown, you know as well as I do that if the shoe was on the other foot, Ric Flair, you would have did to me what I did to you. Now look, that was then. We need to move on Ric. It's done."

"That's where you're wrong." Ric said calmly. "If the shoe had been on the other foot I would have put you out of wrestling for the rest of your career. That's the difference between you and me. And mentoring you and helping you become a man are two different things. Taking you and James out, showing you the town, getting you drunk, getting you laid. That's what I was doing. I was teaching you how to be a wrestler! How to be a real wrestler!" He shouted, pointing at Roode.

"Impact! Wrestling! Wrestle hard, play hard. Wrestle hard, play harder. Wrestle longer, play harder. Impact! That's what we're selling now buddy!" Ric shouted as he took of his sports coat, wanting to start a brawl.

Bobby shook his head and put his free hand up. "Ric, I'm not doing this. What happened at Lockdown was business. It was business. It's nothing personal. There's no one in this business that respects you more than I do. Okay? But don't you ever underestimate the fact that I am not a man. Okay? I've been a man for a long time and I will continue to be a man long after you're gone, okay Ric? So let's just forget about what happened at Lockdown. What happened at Lockdown was business, we need to move forward. Okay? This is my time now, you've had your time, I respect you."

"I've had my time?" Ric Flair cut off.

Bobby quickly responded. "Yes."

"They've been telling me that for 25 years, you a**hole! And I'm not Ken Anderson calling you that, I'm Ric Flair, you got it? Two different ideas, two different places in the world. Okay. I'm not saying you did anything wrong, I'm glad you did it. Here's what I wanna see. You know, I've got a saying, 'to be the man you gotta beat the man.' Well, you beat the man, right? Well, understand this. Being a man and staying a man are two different things. Break it again right now!" Flair demanded with a crazy look in his eyes.

Roode looked away and Flair got in his face. "Break it again right now!"

"Ric, I'm not doing this." Bobby protested.

"Break it again right now!"

"Ric, it's over. I'm not doing this." Bobby tried to walk past and out of the ring, but Flair grabbed his arm and turned him around, before slapping him in the face. The shock of it caused Bobby to take a few steps back, but as soon as he recovered, he instantly got toe-to-toe with Ric, angry.

"Nothing's over till I say it's over!" Flair shouted. "You don't walk away from God. You're gonna learn." He shouted, putting his hand on Bobby's neck as he pushed him back. "You're gonna learn, a**hole."

Bobby struggled for a few seconds, but by this point was seething, and quickly grabbed Flair's arm and forced him to the ground, locking in the armbar yelling in anger and frustrating as he put more pressure on Flair's shoulder.

"Oh my God!" Tenay exclaimed as he saw what was going on in the ring. "You can just feel it boiling between Ric Flair and Bobby Roode."

"He's got that same armbar on there, look at him."

"Bobby Roode couldn't help himself Taz."

"Nah Bobby got pushed over the edge. Right over the limit. Oh God, here comes Immortal now and Bobby Roode flying solo."

Hearing the crowd's changing in reaction, Roode quickly looked over his shoulder and saw Immortal running towards the ring. He released the hold and stood up right as Matt Hardy was running into the ring, knocking him down with a couple of big shots before doing the same to Chris Harris. He fought the two off for a good few seconds before Bully Ray got into the ring as well and it became a 3-on-1 assault and the numbers soon caught up with Bobby, who found himself on the ground, being stomped by the three Immortal members, which soon became four once Abyss made his way to the ring.

The shots rained down the tag team champion as Bully Ray took a step back and undid his chain from his jeans. He pushed Hardy out of the way as Chris Harris held down Bobby's legs. The former Dudley Boy soon brought the chain down across the midsection of Roode, causing him to forget his struggles and roll to his side, as best he could, in pain. Ray then brought the chain down against his side and back causing Roode to once again yell out in pain. Ray then dropped a big elbow where he had just used the chain before Hardy grabbed Roode's arms and helped Harris stretch him out.

"Abyss! Abyss!" Ray shouted. "Go get two chairs! Go get two chairs!' as the crowd booed loudly. He then brought the chain down again and again on the midsection of a defenseless Bobby Roode, who continued to cry out in agony.

Finally, Abyss reentered the ring with the chairs and Hardy and Harris released Roode, who instantly curled into a fetal position, attempting to protect himself as best he could as Mike Tenay and Taz reminded the people at home that the rest of Fortune was unable to help Robert Roode due to the injuries they had sustained at the hands of Immortal earlier that night.

Ray directed traffic in the ring, ordering the others to flip Roode on his stomach and 'stretch his shoulder out.' Roode tried to struggle to get free, but a few stomps from the Immortal members as well as Ray hitting him with a chain a few more times allowed Immortal to be able to do whatever they wanted to him.

Abyss and Ray held Roode's left arm stretched out as Hardy lined the chair up on Roode's shoulder, Harris standing beside the chaos with the other chair in hand. After a few horrifying seconds, Harris brought his chair down on the other one, causing a sickening clang as well.

Bobby instantly started writhing in pain, shouting, nearly crying in pain as he gripped his bad shoulder. Ray got into his face as he flopped around on the ground, as if trying to move away from the pain in some way. "Don't you ever disrespect Ric Flair." He shouted, as Abyss flipped him over and began poking him with his foot.

Matt Hardy got into his face. "That's what you get!" He screamed as Ray repeated the same thing he had said earlier right into the camera. The men raised their hands in the ring, smiles on their faces as Roode screamed in the background, before finally leaving in the ring.

Bully Ray watched from the ramp with a big grin on his face as Robert Roode writhed in pain in the ring. He, Chris Harris, Abyss, and Matt Hardy were watching their handiwork when he felt someone brush by him.

Stella sprinted down the ramp, past Immortal, and straight to the ring, sliding under the bottom rope and bear-walking over to Bobby, where he had his face driving into the mat, his legs kicking as he held his shoulder. She could hear him crying out in pain and it nearly broke her heart.

"Bobby." She exclaimed, hurrying to him. She knelt beside him on both knees, turning him onto his back before taking his head in her lap as she brushed the hair that had come out of the pony tail out of his face.

"Oh God." He said, taking in a shaky breath before he just let out a yell of pain, writhing in her arms.

"Shhh. Shh." Stella rested her hand on his face, rubbing his cheek with her thumb. "It's okay Bobby. It's gonna be okay."

"Stella?" He questioned, as if finally being able to see through the pain enough to see her.

She placed her other hand over his uninjured one. "Yeah Bobby. It's me."

"It hurts. I- ah, f***." He exclaimed through gritted teeth before turning over onto his side, burying his head in her leg as she tried to quiet him again.

"I know hun. I know. I'm here though and the medics are on the way." She ran a hand through his hair, hoping to somehow comfort him until something more could be done.

Stella was so focused on Roode that she didn't see the sick smile that crossed Bully Ray's face as she ran down the ring. He motioned for the other members of Immortal to watch before he walked down to the ring, stepping in through the ropes behind Stella as she tended to Bobby.

He quickly grabbed her by the arm, hauling her to him, eliciting another cry of pain from Roode as his shoulders and head bounced against the mat.

"AH GOD!" He yelled, as Stella looked towards him.

"BOOBY!" She screamed as Ray turned her around, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close. She struggled against him, trying to get free. She pushed against his chest as she wiggled in his arms. "Let me go!"

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Roode writhing on the ground, eyes squinted shut in pain. With a new found determination to get back to the Fortune member, she quickly lifted her thumb up and poked Bully Ray in the eye, causing him to hold it in pain as he let her go. She quickly took a step back, but stayed between him and the injured Canadian.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" She yelled, glaring at him. "That was between him and Flair! You had no right to do that to him! It wasn't your fight! Just leave already! You've done enough!"

Stella then turned around to go back to Roode, but as she did, Ray smacked her on her butt. She turned around in disgust and saw his smirking face. "Nice a**."

This caused her anger to reach a boiling point before she reared back and smacked him across the face, hard.

"You sick son of a b****! Keep your d*** hands off of me!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, don't act like you don't like it you filthy tramp."

She smacked him again. "Just get the hell out of here you fat bastard!" She prepared to turn back to Roode, who was still writhing on the ground, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Angelina Love and Winter making their way past Immortal. She watched for a few seconds, confused and slightly worried.

"Ah f***." She heard Bobby cry out in pain. Instantly forgetting the two Knockouts heading toward the ring, she turned to go back to Bobby.

As she faced Bobby, Matt Hardy snuck in the ring behind her, grabbing her by her hair as she began to kneel down, throwing her against the mat, hard.

Her hands instantly shot to the back of her neck, holding it tightly as she now hissed in pain.

Bully Ray shared a smile with Winter as she and Angelina made their way into the ring. Winter walked over to Stella and stood her up with an evil glint in her eyes before she delivered a devastating swinging side slam backbreaker finisher.

Stella's back jarred on impact. She slammed her eyes shut as she tried to fight against the darkness creeping in along the corners of her vision. She finally opened her eyes in time to see Angelina Love stepping over her and looking in the Cramp submission, a modified camel-clutch looking lock.

Stella cried out in pain as she tried to get free, but couldn't.

Stella's shouts broke past the haze of pain that was surrounding Robert Roode. He glanced over at her as Love was moving off of her finally and Chris Harris was entering the ring.

Bully Ray pointed to Stella and yelled something at Harris, instructing him to pick up the nearly unconscious Stella, setting her up for a power bomb. He gestured for him to wait a minute, however, as he got an evil glint in his eye and grabbed one of the chairs, laying it flat on the ground in front of Harris as the two shared an evil smile.

"Stella." Roode said through gritted teeth as loudly as he could as he tried to use his feet to push himself towards her and Ray. "No."

However, Hardy stepped in front of him and quickly kicked him in his bad shoulder. "AH!" Roode screamed as he cried out in pain again, writhing on the ground.

"That's what you get for disrespecting Ric Flair." He shouted, as Harris picked up Felicity and powerbombed her onto the chair, knocking her out completely.

The former Dudley Boy looked at his handiwork with a smile before yelling something that the ring microphones didn't pick up at Winter and Matt. They nodded, as Hardy laid down on top of Stella where his body was fully on top of hers while Winter stuck her foot on Roode's chest as he glanced over at Stella. Bully Ray got down on the mat and did a slow "3" count as if he were an official and this had been a match. He then stood up and had his hands raised by the others. They celebrated in the ring for a few moments, before finally leaving again.

Medics rushed to the ring as Impact went to a commercial break. They ran to Bobby first, who was laying on his back, face contorted in pain as he tried to glance over at Stella to see how she was but had to keep squinting his eyes due to the fire shooting through his shoulder. However, he managed enough strength to wave the EMTs off with his good arm.

"Help her…first." He said through gritted teeth and with shallow breaths in-between.

"But Mr. Roode…" One started.

"Her…first." He practically shouted, rolling away from them enough to make sure they got the hint and went to Stella first. The ones already by his side went to the unconscious Georgia woman, as he continued to writhe in pain.

TNA-TNA-TNA-TNA-TNA

Stella lay on her bed in her hospital room. The two-time Knockout Champ (and one time Knockout Tag Team Champ) had woken up from the attack in the emergency room and the doctors had instantly given her pain meds before they went to do the MRI and X-Rays. She had been in a ton of pain before, and still was in some, but the medicine was slowly starting to kick in and while it was numbing the pain, it was also beginning to make her tired and all she wanted to do was go home and sleep, but she couldn't do that since her house was in Marietta, Georgia and there was no way she was in any condition to drive or fly.

She heard a quite knock on the door.

"Come in." She said weakly as the door opened and Frank Kazarian walked in with a small smile on his face.

She smiled back. "Hey Frankie."

"Hey sweetie, how you feeling?" He asked, walking over and giving her a gentle hug and kiss on the cheek before sitting down in the chair next to the bed.

"I'm okay. The first three moves didn't phase me too badly. I mean, I am kind of a veteran after all." Her southern accent clear. "But that powerbomb onto the chair…" She rubbed the back of her neck gingerly. "That was just a horse of a different color."

Kazarian chuckled lightly as he shook his head at the random southern expressions his friend would use.

"I'm sorry you lost your title, Frankie. It's a d*** disgrace that Abyss is running around with it."

He shrugged. "It is what it is. I mean, with Immortal pulling the strings around here it was only a matter of time before something like this happened anyway. We'll outsmart them and make it right though."

"How's Bobby?" She quickly asked, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Oh, thanks for asking Stella. I'm fine. It's not like Abyss beating the crap out of me hurt or anything."

"Frankie…"

"I'm only messing with you Stella." He shot her a playful smirk. "Seriously though, I'm fine."

"I know, you said that." She raised an eyebrow. "Bobby?"

Kaz sighed. "I'm honestly not sure hun. He was still getting it looked at when the doctor told James and I you were awake. But, I'm sure the he'll be in here as soon as they're done with him. Doc said nothing was too serious with you, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, just, kinda bruised my spine, screwed up some muscles and my neck a bit. Should be fine in about two or three weeks."

"Glad to hear it."

"How's AJ?" The concern for her friend showing on her face.

"He's okay. Chris already took him back to the condo though so he could rest. Doctor just said he needs to watch himself the next couple of weeks and probably not wrestle. We'll see if he listens though. We didn't tell him about what happened to you or Bobby though, because we knew he'd want to stick around or something and he definitely needs his rest."

She raised an eyebrow. "You didn't tell him?" Kazarian shook his head, causing her to chuckle.

"Well, that's oughta go over like a fart in church."

"Where do you come up with this stuff?" He asked, shaking his head at her expression, when a quite knock on the door sounded before it opened and a tired looking Robert Roode stepped into the hospital room, his left arm in a sling. He attempted a smile at Stella, but frowned when he saw the look she was giving him.

"Oh no. Bobby." She said, as he quickly walked to her and put his good arm around her, gently hugging her.

"Hey. I'm fine." He encouraged as Kazarian quietly slipped out of the room, seeing Storm outside motioning for him, no doubt to tell him how Bobby was.

Stella rolled her eyes. "Yeah. They put people who are 'fine' in slings."

Roode rolled his eyes as he sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"Uh-uh" She shook her head. "We ain't changing the subject until you tell me what the doctor said about your shoulder."

He looked at her as if to challenge her, but knew better than to argue with a southern woman and sighed. "Strained about every ligament up front and almost separated my shoulder. He wants me in a sling for at least a week and no wrestling for probably three."

"But nothing is serious?" She asked, hope in her voice.

"Nope. It should heal up fine unless I try to wrestle on it. If I do that, there's a good chance I could screw it up bad."

She looked at him sternly. "You're going to take a few weeks off, right?"

He nodded. "Now, how are you? James said the doctor said it was just some bruising?" The concern was clear in his voice.

"Yeah. On my spine. Messed up some muscles in my back and my neck. I'll be right as rain in two or three weeks though." She said with a small smile.

Bobby looked at her and nodded. "Stells I am so sorry you got caught up in all this. Especially since you were down there to take care of me." He looked away.

She frowned and placed her hand on top of his. "Hey." He looked up at her. "I'm okay. I'm a founding TNA…Impact Knockout and I'm from Georgia. I've been attacked by Kong, Roxxi, ODB, Flash, Rosie…This ain't my first time in a hospital bed. Won't be my last either probably. Just comes with the job."

"But unlike those times, this is on my head, on Fortune's head, because they hurt you because you're our friend."

She rolled her eyes. "They hurt me because they're douchebags Bobby."

He looked up at her and his face was growing red with anger and his eyes narrowed. "Well, regardless of the reasoning, they're going to pay Stells. I swear to you, they're going to regret this."

"In three weeks, right?" She gave him her best authoritative look.

He couldn't help but smirk at her. "Yeah. I'll let myself heal up first, but once I do…"

She smiled up at him. "I wouldn't expect anything less." Raising an eyebrow, she sat up straighter. "Hey. Earlier you said you had something to talk to me about. What was it?"

He looked at her, and she thought she saw a mix of anxiety and regret on his face, but he soon recovered and shook his head. "Oh, never mind. Just forget it."

"You sure? You said it was important and that we should have talked about it a while ago." She pressed.

He inwardly sighed. He had planned on telling her how he felt, but how could he now? All she had done was go to check on him and Immortal laid her out. What would they do if they were actually together? And plus, Stella deserved a guy who could be there when she needed him, protect her. Not lay helplessly on the mat while he and his friends' arch-nemesis assault her.

"I was wrong. It was nothing." He glanced back over at her, and couldn't help but notice the disappointed look on her face. Chalking it up to her just being curious, he waved it off as she sat next to him, her feet dangling off the bed as she rested her had on his shoulder.

"I'm tired." She said groggily. He smiled down at her, wrapping his arm around her.

"Pain meds?" He asked.

She nodded. "Pain meds. I seriously think I need to put something on some form about how tired they make me so they won't give me as many."

Bobby chuckled at her. In all the years he'd known Stella, it still amazed him that anytime she got hurt and had to take pain killers how quickly they could zap her energy.

"I just want to sleep." She pouted. "But my house is hours away."

"Oh, no no no. You are not driving home tonight. You're staying at the Condo with us."

"Okay." She mumbled, and Bobby could tell how tired she was because she'd normally argue about not wanting to be an imposition or how she was fine to drive.

"How much longer till we can leave?" She asked, her eyes closed as she leaned against him.

"Just a little bit longer. James and Frankie are getting our discharge papers and then we can go."

"Good." She muttered groggily.

He rested his head on top of hers. "Thanks for coming out there for me tonight Stells."

"What are friends for?" She said tiredly, not seeing the slight frown that crossed Bobby's face as she said friends, as if he knew that's all they were destined to be.

TNA-TNA-TNA-TNA-TNA

Kazarian maneuvered the car into the driveway of the condo. James smiled as he looked into the rearview mirror and saw Stella, asleep, resting her head on Bobby's shoulder.

He put the car in park before glancing over his shoulder. "She still asleep?" He asked quietly, as Bobby nodded.

"So, do we wake her up or…" The former X-Division champ wondered aloud as James shook his head.

"Nah, I'll carry her in." He stepped out of the passenger seat before opening the door and slowly and carefully lifted Stella out of the car.

"Don't hit her head." Bobby instructed, causing his tag team partner to roll his eyes as he adjusted the tiny woman. Her eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Bobby?"

"Sorry to disappoint ya Peach, but it's just me." He replied as she looked up at him, forcing a small, but tired, grin.

"Hey Jimmy-J. Where are we?"

"At the Condo. Now, go back to sleep, alright?"

She nodded slowly in response as she fell back asleep almost instantly while James followed Kazarian up the sidewalk to the door. The California man walked in, quietly setting his keys on the table before he walked wordlessly to his room, wanting nothing more than to sleep at the moment.

James turned to look at Roode, who was closing the door. "What should we do with her?"

Roode nodded towards the hallway. "Just put her in my room. She can sleep in there." He suggested, as he and his tag team partner made their way to the room.

Bobby pulled the covers down as his partner laid Stella on the bed. She soon rolled over onto her stomach, no doubt to alleviate the pain in her back before she grew motionless again, still asleep.

Roode covered her back up, gently tucking the blankets around her with his good arm.

James looked between Bobby and the sleeping woman. "There are so many inappropriate things I could say right now about you finally having Stella in your bed."

Roode gave him a warning look. "James…"

The Tennessee cowboy laughed quietly. "I'm just playing man. But seriously, where are you going to sleep?"

"The couch I guess."

"You sure? I mean, that won't be too comfortable with your shoulder and all."

Roode nodded. "I'm sure. I'm so tired I could probably just sleep standing up if I wanted to. I'll be fine."

"Alright, well, I'm hittin' the hay. I'll see ya tomorrow."

With that, James left. Roode glanced over Stella before sighing. He quietly got a pair of basketball shorts out of his closet before leaving the room. After changing in the restroom, which was no easy task with his shoulder the way it was, he grabbed a blanket and made his way to one of the couches. He laid down, groaning at how it wasn't wide enough and was barely long enough for him to fit. And the elevated arm rest dug into his shoulder a bit, causing him to sigh in both pain and annoyance.

He covered himself up with the blanket the best he could before finally giving up. He closed his eyes, frustrated by the uncomfortable nature of the couch and the injury he had sustained that night. Finally the pain meds he had been given kicked in and he fell into a less than comfortable slumber.

**Well, there it was. And, just so everyone knows, I risked a tornado to save my laptop (and the stained glass I made for Edge) for this story inparticular, so I hope it was worth my near kamikazee mission. :) I really hope you enjoyed it. Please, please, please (don't be cruel and make me beg) just hit that little "review" button there and drop me a line or two letting me know what you think. Thanks for reading! And, if you want to read some other stories of mine, please do. The only two I'm still currently writing are "Family Doesn't End With Blood" (another TNA story) and A Bitter Place and A Broken Dream (An Edge and Christian story with an "adopted" little sister OC twist. Read it and you'll see what I mean.)Until next time...  
>*Casey*<br>~James 1:12~**


	2. Chapter 2

**Guys, I apologize SO SO SO much for the wait between chapters. I'm currently taking 19 credit hours at University, as well as running cross-country on top of that. I'm also in the Honors Program up here and, lately, have been working over 30 hours per week. I'm not trying to make excuse or gain sympathy, I just want you to know that I hadn't forgotten about you. However, my work is hiring some new people, so I should be back down to 20 hours per week soon and have more time for fanfiction. I apologize so much for the wait. Hopefully this'll be worth it.**

**Again, I own nothing but Stella. And you can sue if you really want to, I guess, but I have no money, so you won't get much.**

**Special shout out to my beta/co-author/brainstormer/all around awesome guy, Instant Classic Superstar Pac. And Ariel...you now owe me an update!**

The sunlight coming in from the window hit Stella's face, causing her to slowly open her eyes. She looked around, confused as to where she was before she saw the few pictures that Bobby had up of his family, especially his nieces and nephews.

She laid back in the bed, relaxed, turning over and burying her face in the pillow. Her lips curled up in a wide smile as she inhaled the scent of the pillow and realized that it smelled like Bobby.

"Bobby." She softly said, rolling over to look next to her in the bed, expecting to be met with the Canadian's sleeping form. Seeing as it was empty, she sat up, confused, knowing that the condo only had five bedrooms. She quickly stood up, smoothing out her shorts and tee shirt she had slept in and made her way through the hallway, careful not wake anyone.

Being from the South and having grown up on a farm 30 minutes outside of Marietta, she was used to waking up early. Even after late nights and pain medicine, it was as though her body forced her to be up early. She knew none of the boys would be up, seeing as they liked to sleep in after Impact tapings unless they were flying out early, so she didn't go into any of the rooms searching for the Beer Money member. Instead, she walked into the living room.

She smiled softly as she was met with the sight of Robert Roode sleeping on a couch that was too small for him, his soft snores reaching her ears. She slowly walked over to the couch and contemplated waking him, hoping he'd go to his own bedroom, but, knowing he'd more than likely refuse and insist on keeping her company since everyone else was asleep, she decided against it. She did, however, pick up the blanket he had seemingly kicked off himself in his sleep and covered him, careful not to touch his bad shoulder.

She then went back into the room, and after finding her bag, took a quick shower. After changing into a pair of blue jean shorts and a blue tank-top and applying some light make up, she walked into the kitchen and began to make the men of Fortune breakfast.

About a half hour into her cooking, the aroma was beginning to fill the house, slowly causing the others to wake up and make their way downstairs. The first into the kitchen was Christopher Daniels.

"Hey El." He said tiredly as he walked over and gave her a careful hug. "How are you feeling?"

She smiled up at him. "'Mornin' CD. I'm better, still sore as all get out though. Took my pain meds right after I woke up, so hopefully they'll start to kick in."

"Well, we're going to get Immortal back for this. Mark my word."

"Is that the gospel according to the Fallen Angel?" She asked with a playful smirk, causing him to roll his eyes before she nodded. "But, yeah, I know. Bobby's already chomping at the bit to get them, but he promised me that he'd wait until he was healed up and I expect you to help me hold him to that."

"Yes ma'am." Daniels smiled before Stella handed him a mug of coffee. He took a sip, sighing in appreciation before looking around the kitchen. "What's all this?"

"I'm making y'all breakfast. It's the least I could do after you let me stay her."

"You didn't have to do that, El. How many times have we told you we don't mind you crashing here?"

"I know, but you boys ain't home that much with all the traveling we do. I like to know you get a good meal or two in ya when we're on the road. I'm sure your wives do to."

"Need any help?" He asked, but she shook her head quickly.

"Nope. You just go sit yourself down at the table. It's almost ready."

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks El."

Frankie walked down next, a big smile on his face. "Is she…" His smile grew even wider as he saw Stella, spatula in hand, flipping the pancakes. "Yes. She's making breakfast." He said, a slight fist pump being given.

She turned and smiled at him. "Mornin' Frankie." She quickly poured a mug of coffee and handed it to him as he walked over to her.

"Good morning Stella." He looked over the kitchen. "What all are we having?"

"Well, luckily you boys had just enough stuff in the cupboards and fridge for me to whip all this up. But, I see I'm gonna have to run to the store for y'all because you can't grocery shop worth a lick." She scolded, causing both Daniels and Kazarian to roll their eyes as the latter took a sip of his coffee. "But, any-who, I made biscuits and gravy, shredded hash browns, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and of course I made AJ some grits."

"I love it when southern women come stay with us. Thank you Stella." Frankie hugged her before heading over to join Daniels.

Storm came down next, grumbling as he half-slept walked towards the fridge, opening it up to pull out a beer.

"Oh, no no no no no." Stella quickly said, taking the beer bottle from his hand as his half opened eyes slowly looked towards her. "We drink coffee in the mornin', Jimmy-J." She handed him a mug as she helped him walk over to the table. "Now, you just sit here and drink that 'til you wake up. Breakfast is almost finished." She said, pinching his cheek as if he were a small child. He tried to swat her hand away, but he was half asleep still and she was able to move away long before his hand got near her, causing the others to chuckle.

Stella went back to the stove, when a few minutes later, she heard another southern drawl. "Stella Mae?" She turned and saw AJ against the fridge, his neck brace in place, but he still moved pretty well despite it. He had always been one to bounce back rather quickly and not let pain bother him too much. He smiled as she turned around and confirmed his suspicion. "It is you! What are you doing here, Hun?"

He stepped forward and wrapped her in a tight hug, as he always did, before anyone could stop him, causing her to cringe and hiss in pain.

"AJ, wait!" Daniels warning came too late as the Gainesville native took a quick step back, his hands raised as he looked at Stella in fear and confusion.

"What'd I do? What'd I do?"

She sighed in pain as she rubbed the back of her lower neck. "Nothing AJ, it's fine."

"Bull. All I did was give you a hug and you acted like a punched you in the kidney or something. Now, does someone want to explain to me _why_?" He asked getting agitated, causing his accent to be more pronounced.

She sighed. "Well, last night after y'all left, you know Bobby went out there to face Flair, right?" AJ nodded, so she continued. "Well, Flair tried to get him to lock the arm bar back in…"

"Why would he do that?"

"Because he's old and crazy?" Daniels offered from the table, getting a few nods in response.

"Anyway, Bobby wouldn't do it because you know how much he respects Flair and looked up to him and he just didn't want to. Well, the Nature Boy doesn't like being told no, so Flair said Bobby wasn't a man and smacked him." The Georgia woman explained.

"Well, I'm sure that worked out well for Flair." AJ quipped.

"Bobby snapped, grabbed Flair's arm and put him in the arm bar. Which Immortal wasn't too thrilled about, so out came Bully Ray, Chris Harris, Matt Hardy, and Abyss and…" Stella stopped, not wanting to relive what she had seen the night before. AJ looked at her confused.

Frankie picked up where she left off. "They beat Bobby down pretty good. Ray whipped him with the chain while the others held him down and stretched him out."

AJ growled angrily. "I knew we should have stayed. Those…"

"Jay." Daniels stopped him, causing him to turn to face him as the Fallen Angel shook his head.

"Then…" Frankie continued. "Ray had Abyss get two chairs and they flipped him onto his stomach and held his arm out before Hardy held one chair on his shoulder and Harris brought the other down on top of it."

AJ grew wide-eyed before looking at the others. "Where's Bobby now?"

"Asleep on the couch." Stella placed her hand on his forearm. "I'm about to go wake him up. He's okay, just strained some ligaments and nearly separated it. He's gonna have to stay in a sling and not wrestle for about three weeks in order to heal up. He got lucky." She comforted.

The Fortune member nodded before raising an eyebrow. "Wait, hold on. That doesn't explain why my hug hurt you."

She waved him off. "Oh, that. I just slept on my back wrong." She lied, but James perked up at this.

"She's lying."

"Jimmy-J…"

He shrugged. "Sorry Peach." He looked back to AJ. "She ran down to the ring to check on Bobby once Immortal left because he was in a bad way after they got done. Bully Ray decided to cop a feel and mouth off, earning himself a slap. Then Hardy threw her to the mat by her hair, Winter and Love came down and worked on her back for a few minutes, then Ray had Harris powerbombed her onto a steel chair."

"They what!" AJ exclaimed.

Stella rolled her eyes. "AJ, stop over reacting."

"Yeah, I'm over reacting." He scoffed. "Turn around."

"Jay…"

"Turn around Stella Mae." He ordered sternly.

She sighed, doing as she was told. AJ gently grabbed the hem of the back of her tank-top and lifted it up to her shoulder blades. She heard grumbles and hisses of anger as the four men saw the bruising that now covered her back.

"They're dead." He muttered. "I'm gonna peel their heads like onions."

"Got that right." Frankie agreed.

James nodded. "Dead men walking."

Daniels just moved his head from side to side, popping his neck. "What's the plan?"

"Uh-uh." Stella stopped them, pulling her shirt back down before she looked at them. "No 'kill Immortal' talk at breakfast. You all need to heal up, especially Bobby. No need to get yourselves worked up until you're actually able to do something."

"Stella Mae…"

"I mean it AJ. Drop it for now."

He looked at her as if to argue more, but finally sighed. "I still want to kill them."

She smiled up at him. "I know and I love y'all to pieces for that." She gave him a kiss on the cheek before handing him a mug of coffee. "Now go, sit." She shooed him to the table with the others. "I'm going to go get Bobby. I'll be right back. Breakfast should be done by then."

In the living room, she leaned against the doorway, silently chuckling at the sleeping man before she stood in front of the couch and put her hands on her hips.

"Robert Frederick Roode!"

Bobby groaned as the sound of his full name, being stated quite loudly and firmly, pulled him from his slumber. He cracked his eyes, groaning against the sunlight as he saw Stella's form standing in front of him, hands on her hips.

"Hey Stells…"

"Don't you 'hey Stells' me. What were you thinking?"

He looked at her confused as he took his good arm and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "What are you talking about?"

"You, sleeping in here. You have a bum shoulder and are barely able to fit yourself on the couch. I could fit my lil' o' self on here much easier than you."

"Its not a big deal, Stells." He waved it off, but she shook her head.

"Yeah, it is Bobby. You didn't need to do that. It's your bed, I'm the guest. If I woulda known I was going to impose…"

"You didn't impose. Seriously, I didn't mind it at all."

"Well, I still don't like that you let me boot you out of your own bed, but thank you. It was really sweet." She said with a smile before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "How's your shoulder feeling today?"

"It's alright I guess. How's the back?"

"It's fine Bobby. Doesn't even really hurt." She lied, but soon AJ's voice was heard from the kitchen.

"She's lying! Her back is all bruised up!"

Stella glared through the wall, mumbling about loud-mouths before turning back to Bobby, who was looking at her sternly. He spun his finger around in a circle. "Let me see."

She sighed, before turning around and raising the back of her shirt for her to see. She heard him growl in anger as he stood up behind her and lightly traced the bruises, apologizing when he reached a particularly sensitive spot, causing her to flinch. "Sorry." He muttered, as he finished. She turned around and saw the fire in his eyes.

"Bobby…three weeks. You promised me."

He shook his head. "That was before…"

"Robert Roode. You gave me your word and you're going to keep it. You don't like seeing me hurt and I don't like seeing you hurt, so just hold off, alright?" He didn't answer, causing her to narrow her eyes more. "Bobby…"

"Fine." He finally agreed before taking a big wiff of air. "What's that smell?"

She smiled up at him. "I made breakfast."

"Thank God." He said quietly, looking up towards the ceiling as he hugged her. She rolled her eyes before grabbing his good arm, leading him towards the kitchen. "Come on. I'm sure it's almost finished."

She motioned him over to the table before getting another mug, carrying it over to the table along with the coffee pot. She filled up the near empty mugs before she carried over the food and sat it in the middle of the table one pot and pan at a time. She also carried over both AJ's and Bobby's pain medicine. "Here take these." She quietly ordered.

"You boys go ahead and eat, I'm going to get you some more coffee made." She turned around and took a step back towards the counter, but was stopped whenever Roode grabbed her around the wrist gently.

"Stells, stop. Sit down and eat with us."

"But I need ta…"

"Peach," James said, pointing at her. "Sit your scrawny lil' a** down and eat some breakfast." He ordered before grabbing for a biscuit. Stella reached up and smacked his hand before sitting down next to Bobby. "Ow!" He yelled, pulling his hand away.

"You know the rule. You reached for the food first, so you have to say grace."

James grumbled something and was preparing to argue before AJ glared at him. "Would you just hurry up and say something before my grits get cold?"

The tag champ rolled his eyes before bowing his head. "Dear Lord, we thank you for this food and for friends. Thank you for our wonderful little chef, Stella, and for letting us all survive last night. Bless the food before us. Good food. Good meat. Good God, let's eat. Amen."

"Amen." They all repeated, a few rolling their eyes at the ending of the prayer as everyone started getting their plates. Stella reached over and grabbed the pancakes, placing some on her plate then some on Bobby's. She repeated the process with the rest of the food, knowing it'd be extremely difficult for him to make a plate with only one hand. She looked around the table and noticed how all the men, except James, were shirtless and in their pajama shorts or pants.

Stella laughed softly, causing Bobby to raise an eyebrow and give her a questioning glance. "What?"

"I'm surrounded by four shirtless men and a druk cowboy. If my Momma could see me now…" She smiled up at them as they shook their heads and chuckled.

After breakfast, Stella stood up to take the dishes toward the sink, but the men shook their heads. "Oh, no you don't." Daniels stood up. "We'll get the dishes."

"Guys, it's fine. I can…"

"Stella, you made the food. It's only fair that we clean up, we'll be fine." Frankie argued.

She looked about to disagree, but finally sighed and nodded. "Well, if you boys are sure."

"We are." James added before the brunette nodded and headed towards Robert's bedroom where her bag was as the boys finished cleaning up their mess. Once they were about halfway finished, Stella came walking through the kitchen in a pink bikini, a towel draped over her shoulder.

"I'm going to go for a dip in the ocean."

"Don't get eaten by a shark!" AJ called after her with a grin.

Bobby eyes were glued to her as she made her way toward the water. His steady gaze, however, broke when he felt someone tap him on the arm. He looked over to see Daniels looking at him, holding out a towel.

"Chris, bud, I don't think I can dry dishes with one arm." He explained, pointing to the sling.

"It's not for that. It's to catch the drool." He smirked as the other Fortune members laughed, much to Roode's chagrin.

"What are you talking about?" He asked. The others all groaned and went back to what they were doing. "What?"

"Stella, you big goon. We're talking about Stella." AJ said with a roll of his eyes.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

All the men threw their hands in the air, annoyance clear in their actions.

"Bobby, we know you like her. _Everybody_knows you like her." Kazarian pointed out.

James chuckled before looking seriously at his tag team partner. "How did your talk go with her last night?"

Daniels raised his eyebrow. "What talk?"

"Last night, I caught Bobby here staring at Stella yet again."

"James…"

The Tennessee cowboy paid no mind to his tag team partner before continuing. "Anyway, I finally convinced him to grow a pair and tell Stella how he felt. He promised he would last night."

"Really?" AJ said, putting down the towel in his hands before turning to face the Wizard of Wall Street. "How'd it go? What'd she say?"

Kaz looked at AJ in disbelief. "You sound like a teenage girl at a slumber party right now."

"Shut up!" AJ bit back, as Daniels cleared his throat, bringing the conversation back on track.

"Anyway, Stella did stay in Bobby's bed last night." James wiggled his eyebrows.

The murmurs of the others were heard as they started hounding him for details as to how the talk went. However, he quickly cut them off, rolling his eyes. "_I_ stayed on the _couch_ last night, for the record. And…well…um…I didn't actually talk to her about…._that__…_last night."

James crossed his arms. "What?"

"Well, if you hadn't noticed, I was a little preoccupied, what with you know, almost having my career ending injury and having Stella powerbombed on a chair for coming to check on me."

"It's always an excuse with you Bobby. It's _always_an excuse." Kazarian looked annoyed.

"You guys know as well as I do that nothing could happen between us right now. We're in a war: a _war._Impact could lose everything it has ever stood for if we fail and Immortal gets to run things unchallenged. I can't stand to lose focus and I can't give Bischoff or Flair or Hogan the opportunity to use Stella as another chess piece. If they do and I get distracted, one of you guys could get hurt, or God forbid, they go after her and…"

He was cut off when the other men, once again, groaned. "Same song…" AJ started before Daniels finished. "Different verse."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that every time you finally decide to do what you should have done months ago or man up and stop acting like some Jr. High boy at his first dance and tell her how you feel, you come up with yet another excuse and then, a month later, we're back at the same place with all of us telling you to just go for it." His tag team partner explained.

"And you're not going to use us as an excuse anymore." Kazarian motioned amongst the group. "We are grown men. We _built_Impact into what it is. We took a company that shouldn't have lasted six months and made it into one of the top wrestling promotions in the world. Immortal has no idea what they've gotten themselves into. You're Robert Roode. You won't lose focus, but, if you do, we'll pick up the slack. We aren't going to get hurt because you decide to go for something that's right there."

"And we won't let Stella get hurt either." AJ added. "You know we all love her. Have since she came into the company. If anything else, seeing you and her happy and knowing that Immortal is trying to ruin that and everything else for us is going to add to our resolve."

Roode sat down heavily. "I don't know guys. It's a big risk to take just to see me happy."

"Her too."

"What?" Roode looked at Daniels, confused.

"Her happy too. You too being together wouldn't just be good for you; it'd be good for her as well. I'm with these guys. You need to stop dragging your feet and finally tell Stella, because I'm really getting sick of hearing about the Jr. High-like crush. I hear it enough from my kids."

Roode glared at him for a moment before looking back out towards the ocean, where he could see Stella swimming. "I don't know guys. I just don't know."

TNA-TNA-TNA-TNA-TNA

Impact started out with Fortune members already in the ring in their street clothes, AJ Styles wearing a neckbrace and Bobby Roode in a sling.

"Well, Tazz, last week we saw Fortune be picked apart one by one by the member of Immortal. And now, it looks like we're about to hear from the men who say they aren't going to take a backseat to anybody."

"Yeah, last week we saw these guys decimated by Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff's Immortal and…I don't really know about this Mike. Being here, out in the ring when none of them are probably up for a fight might not be their best idea."

Kazarian grabbed a microphone, looking at the others, who all nodded, showing their consent for him to be the spokesman of the group for the time being.

"You know, I've been in the company for a long, long time. Hell, we all have been. We've been with this company from its humble beginnings to having live shows on Monday night. We've seen this company grow. We've been here through Jim Cornette, Jeff Jarrett, Dixie Carter, Mick Foley, and now, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff." The crowd gave a mixed reaction, showing that they did not approve of some of the names on this list, despite the fact they did respect all of them.

"Some of us have been here consistently since the doors opened up and, well…" He gave a light, sad chuckle, "Some of us seem to have more of revolving door in and out of this company."

"I mean, I started here in 2003, left in 2005 to test the waters elsewhere, came back in 2006, left in 2008 because I felt like I let TNA down in the World X Cup, then I came back last year. And Daniels…" he turned and gave a knowing look to the Fallen Angel. "My boy Daniels started here at the very beginning. Five years, five years spent in this company, only to be the victim of a bad briefcase during Feast or Fired."

"Then, he came back for a year and was released again before coming back before Lockdown to help us out."

"Now, neither of us wanted to leave this place. In fact, we were heartbroken to do so because we love this place. This place is our home, it's where we belong. The men and women in the back, we consider a lot of them family. This company, Impact Wrestling, has given us our livelihood, let us do what we love to do, and, most importantly, has put food on our family's table. And there isn't a one of us who wouldn't bleed, wouldn't take a bullet, for this place.

Daniels had asked for a microphone himself and nodded, agreeing with Kaz, before he too started talking. "Kaz is right. We've been here since the humble beginnings of this, company. We've seen it grow and progress into what it is today, one of the best wrestling promotions in the world." The crowd cheered, obviously showing their support.

"And, in 2007, the company took a big step towards becoming what it is today, and that was when they added a women's wrestling division called the Knockouts, and, true to its name, the division attracted some of the most beautiful and talent ladies of action in our business."

The crowd applauded as Daniels began to name drop. "Women such as Jackie Moore, Traci Brooks, Roxxi, Angelina Love, Stella Lynn, ODB, Awesome Kong."

The crowd cheered loudly, clearly admiring and respecting the women being mentioned, as Daniels continued. "These women have been able to thrive and become one of the special features this company hangs it hat on. But, just like everything else here in Impact Wrestling, the KO division has been getting pushed back since Immortal's been here."

The crowd booed, as Daniels nodded, showing he agreed with the fans. "They've gotten a little less airtime and a lot less respect. There's more of a sense now than ever before that succeeding as a Knock out means fitting a certain mold. And unfortunately, that mold doesn't seem to include top notch wrestling abilities as much as it used to."

"And, if the lack of respect, lack of airtime, and the loss of prestige wasn't enough, last week Immortal went over the line."

The crowd booed, already figuring where Daniels was going with his train of thought.

"You know, it was bad enough that they went after our guy, Bobby Roode." The crowd booed at the memory before Daniels continued. "But, you know, that happens. It's a long known saying that this business, 'it ain't ballet.' We know when we sign up on the dotted line that we're going to get jumped, we're going to get hit with cheap shots, we're going to get hurt and beat down. It's wrestling, it happens. So, that's not what I'm talking about."

"What I'm talking about, Bischoff, is you and your gang of merry misfits actually physically attacking a Knockout, a woman we consider a friend, for daring to have a heart and come check on Bobby. This, of course, clearly defied Spike TV's 'no man-on-woman violence' edict, and, quite frankly and more importantly, pissed Fortune off."

The audience once again shared Daniels sentiment, cheering him on as he let Fortune's anger be known. "Stella Lynn, a two-time Knockout Champion and former Knockout Tag Team Champion who has busted her a** to show that she deserves the respect of each and every person here in the Impact Zone and all the viewers at home, has had nothing, _nothing_to do with Immortal up to this point. Yet, they still decided to assault her and powerbomb her onto a steel chair."

Once again, the crowd booed and hissed at the actions of the dreaded faction as the anger on Robert Roode's face became clearly visible. "That," Daniels continued, "that is how little respect Immortal has for anything that's good in this business. And, Eric, Hogan, you and all your little flunkies better mark our words, Fortune _will_make you pay."

The crowd was beginning to cheer, but was cut off whenever Immortal's music hit, causing the audiences mood to do a complete 180 and boos to be heard throughout the Zone as the men in question made their way onto the stage and halfway down the ramp but stopped short of getting into the ring or too close to it.

"Blah, blah, blah, blah, boo stinkin' hoo!" Bully Ray mocked with a microphone. "Somebody needs to call a frickin' wahmbulance over here, because you guys, and all this crying you're doin' right now, it just makes me sick!"

In the ring, Fortune watched, not amused, but didn't interrupt.

"I mean, seriously! Are you boys for real? You got mush for brains or somethin'? Where's your wrestling homework? Do you not know who I am?" Bully asked incredulously.

"I am Bully F-in' Ray! I am the baddest, the meanest, and the toughest son of a b***h to ever set foot in a wrestling ring! I have been powerbombing men and women alike through all sorts of _tables_ since before each of you disrespectful little punks had even learned how to lace up a pair of boots and run the ring ropes!" The crowd booed loudly.

"Compared to that, what I did last week was a South Park gag scene. The fact that you're out here whining about it, you five little boys, makes you all even worse little pu***es than that b**** Stella Lynn."

"In fact," He continued. "If your little girlfriend can't take that heat and get back up, I don't know what the weak b**** is even doing in this business."

Bobby Roode started forward, as though he were about to say something or head out of the ring. However, a restraining hand on his shoulder from James Storm kept him in place as AJ took the microphone from Daniels.

"Ray, why don't you just do everyone a favor and shut your mouth. The fact that Stella is even here tonight proves you're just blowin' smoke. And as for us, well, despite your best efforts, we're still standing too. So, obviously, you're loosing your touch a little bit, aren't you fat man?"

"Still standing, huh AJ?"

AJ nodded. "Yeah Ray. A little beat up, sure. But you and the rest of Immortal couldn't get the job done last week, could you?"

Ray began to laugh uncontrollably. "Hey!" He continued laughing, but slowly calmed himself down. "Hey! AJ. You redneck, moron. You're up there wit' a neck brace on and you're talkin' to me about who couldn't get the job done?"

"Yeah, Bully, you're right. I am in a neck brace." He said with a nod before pausing. "But I won't be forever. Soon, I'll be back in this ring, knocking the fat right off of you for everything Daniels and Kazarian said earlier."

Ray lifted the microphone to his mouth to say something, but before he could, Matt Hardy came up behind him and whispered something in his ear. Ray turned to him and could be heard, off-mic, asking "You sure."

"Yeah, I got this." Matt said, off-mic as well.

"Alright." Ray conceded with a nod, handing him the microphone and stepping back with the other members of Immortal as the former Hardy Boy began to address Fortune.

"Kazarian and Daniels, huh? You know, I find it kinda funny they're the only ones who didn't have a real significant injury from last week. I mean, that's a pretty nice sling you got on your arm there, Bobby Roode."

"And James? James Storm? I got it on pretty good authority, you had to leave the building last week because of a concussion. And we all know now that concussions are serious business for new-generation sissy guys like you, don't we?"

The tag team champions glared, but said nothing, knowing Hardy wasn't finished and wanted to see where he was going.

"We could all just easily just walk over there right now," Hardy threatened, "beat the holy hell out of you guys, and finish off Fortune once and for all like you've had it coming to you for the last 3½ months."

AJ dropped the microphone and all the Fortune members, injured included, got into defensive stances, ready to fight.

"But we're not gonna do that." Hardy said, causing the Fortune members to slowly stand up, confused and somewhat unconvinced as Roode grabbed the microphone off the ground with a roll of his eyes.

"Okay, then why are you out here? Are you wanting to rub last week in our faces or do you just like the sound of your own voice?"

A smug grin formed on the face of Matt Hardy. "Have a little patience, Bobby, we're getting there. See, we've actually got something else that's a little bit more interesting that. Actually, I'd probably say it's a _lot_ more interesting, but that's just my opinion." He turned to the former Dudley boy. "Tell 'em what's up, ."

He handed Ray the mic, who wasted no time in addressing the Fortune member. "Hey, Roode! It's real fitting that you finally decided to step up and say something. Because you're actually a pretty big part of the whole reason we came out here."

"Oh really?" Bobby asked, before looking at Storm, holding the microphone down so no one could hear. "You've got any idea what this moron is talking about?"

Storm just shrugged as Ray continued. "See- hey! Hey! Everyone shut your mouths, I'm trying to talk here!" The crowd booed vehemently, causing Ray to pause for a moment before he continued.

"See, when I called Stella Lynn 'your little girlfriend' a few minutes ago, I wasn't just talkin' about Fortune in general. You yourself should know exactly what I'm talkin' about."

Bobby looked at the other Fortune members, confused before shaking his head. "Ray, I think I may have hit you harder than I thought a few weeks ago or you've been reading one too many dirt-sheets, because I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Excuse me? Dirt sheets? What the hell do I care about dirt sheets? You're the little boys who get off on being praised on the internet! I'm the one that the weaselly bastards who write that stuff hate anyway! Why would I be talkin' about somethin' one of your little marks on keyboards read off a dirt sheet?" Ray asked, his accent thick before he continued.

"Here's the scoop, Beer Money! Last week, me and the rest of Immortal here were just talkin' and gettin' ready to scald you, Roode, like the dog you are, but then Winter and Angelina came up to us. She told us about a real interesting conversation she heard between the two o' you about Stella."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Bobby said after shooting Storm a nervous glance.

Bully Ray chuckled before handing the microphone to Matt Hardy. "Keep denying it, loverboy. If I remember what Winter told us correctly, I believe Storm's words were, 'everyone can see it'."

Roode's facial expression changed to one resembling a child whose hand was just caught in the cookie jar with the other members of Fortune, especially Storm, looking on nervously.

"Actually, we were ready to get you both, but the last thing Winter told us she saw was Storm leaving the building with the rest of Fortune, and then you, Bobby, going to Stella. Add that to the juicy details Winter found out about your little 'feelings', and that meant James was out of the picture, and Stella no doubt was in."

The crowd booed the eldest Hardy's words as he continued. "We knew things weren't gonna fly if we handled her the same way we'd planned to handle Storm, so instead we asked for Winter to take Angelina Love and come out with us to do their part. They were all to happy to oblige."

At the announcer's table, Mike looked at Tazz, confused. "What are they talking about? What does Stella have to do with any of this?"

"Wait, you _planned_ to attack Stella?" Bobby asked, his voice rising in anger as he took a threatening step forward. Before he made it any further, Kaz told him off mic to calm down.

"We wanted to make sure that anybody who ran out to try to play hero or caretaker for you would be able to share in the same pain we delivered to you." Matt shouted back. "That was your price to pay for coming out here and disrespecting the wrestling god known as Ric Flair!"

Bobby's glare intensified, his eyes narrowing as he drilled holes into Matt Hardy. "One, I didn't disrespect Ric Flair. He called _me_ out and pushed me to what I did. And second, and more importantly, I don't give a d*** what I did, you had _no_ right to put your hands on Stella. She did nothing to warrant that and you know it!"

Matt placed his hand over his heart in mock concern. "Oh, did I offend you, Bobby? Are your little feelings hurt? Is your heart burning with so much rage right now that you would do anything to get revenge for us attacking your girl?"

"What, did he just say _his__girl_? What is Matt Hardy talking about?" Taz pondered aloud.

Bobby raised the microphone, planning to say something, but Storm stopped him before he could.

"Not the time Bobby." He explained with a shake of his head.

Matt took a moment to laugh at Roode, an evil grin forming on his face. "Okay. Calm down, Bobby. I can see the answer to my questions is obviously yes." He chuckled. "In which case, well, you're in luck. Because I've got two options for you that I think you might be interested in." Bobby merely glared, awaiting "Cold-blooded" Matt Hardy's next words.

"Option number one: you and your redneck partner agree to give Chris Harris and myself a rematch for the World Tag Team Championships, right here, tonight, on Impact Wrestling!"

Bobby couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips. "Really, Matt? You honestly think we're going to give you another title shot? You must have fried your brain worse than your brother!" He shook his head. "See, if you hadn't noticed, I'm not cleared to wrestle right now, thanks to you and those guys behind you. So, no, Beer Money isn't going to put the titles on the line tonight, especially not against the guys who put me in this sling and attacked a woman both myself and James consider a close friend."

Having held his tongue for too long, Bully Ray took the Immortal microphone back from Hardy. "Hey! Check out the brains on the little b***h from Canada! Congratulations! You also figured out that it's in your best interest to duck us 'cause you know that Beer Money's got no chance of gettin' lucky ever again against the Cold Cats, Hardy and Harris! Unfortunately, you also figured what happens in option two."

"Cold Cats?" AJ mouthed off mic, before looking over at Daniels with an unimpressed look. "Wow."

"AJ!" Ray shouted, gaining the Gainesville man's attention. "I see you runnin' your mouth back there. Keep it up, cause this is where you get involved, and you finally get that beatdown you deserve like the little punk kid you are."

"Oh really?" AJ could be heard asking.

Ray, however, ignored him and turned his attention back to Beer Money. "See, in option two, you guys duck us. Beer Money _don__'__t_ accept the challenge. But because o' that, we all come down there, beat you Fortune punks up some more, and send you right back to those same hospital rooms you crawled out of to get here!"

"And this works against Beer Money too, cause if we do that, there's no way Beer Money are gettin' back up to compete again within the next 30 days! And last I checked in the Impact Wrestling rulebook, if a champion can't compete for the next 30 days, they're left with no choice but to give up their titles!"

Ray laughed. "Welcome to the Immortal world, b***hes! Goin' against us is your catch-22, either you lose or you lose!"

AJ motioned for Roode to give him the mic, which he quickly did. "Bully Ray. You keep running your mouth about how you and Immortal could just come down here and take us out uncontested. But, you seemed to have forgotten that we aren't the only ones that have taken issue with you as of late."

"There's more than a few guys in the back just chompin' at the bit to make you pay for what you've done to them personally and to this company. So, go ahead, come down here and try to take us out. Just don't say I didn't warn you when you're the ones that wind up in a hospital bed by the end of the night."

"What! What the hell are you talkin' about! Did you put up some guys in the back to jump us, huh!" Ray asked, as AJ just smirked.

Before the exchange could go any further, Eric Bischoff made his way from the back to the stage. He walked over to Bully Ray, placing a hand on his shoulder as he took the microphone. "Hey, hey! Hey, calm down, alright? Calm down! I've got this. I've got an idea. Trust me."

"Eric Bischoff? What is he doing out here?" Tenay questioned.

On the stage, Easy E turned to the men in the ring. "Hold on. Hold on a second, guys. Just…hang on one second. I think we may have had a small misunderstanding here. See, I love Matt Hardy's passion for success, I love Bully Ray's determination. Hell, I love all these guys back here! They're Immortal and they're proud of it!"

The crowd booed this, but Bischoff didn't miss a beat as he continued his rant. "But let's be honest here. That wasn't the best option two they've ever thought of. So I think we'd better pull that one back in the hat for another time. Because in the middle of all this rage, all this anger, in the heat of the moment, we all tend to get our heads hot sometimes, and even the great ones are capable of missing a key part of the big picture. And I think that's what we've all done here tonight." He pulled a rolled up piece of paper out of his back pocket and held it up.

"See, I just finished going over the format for tonight's show, and, well, it…just came to my attention that, hey, Stella Lynn, the woman this whole argument seems to be about, well, she's got a match booked tonight against Winter."

"That's bulls**t Eric! You know her back is screwed up because those glorified leeching lapdogs you have hanging around powerbombed her on a _steel__chair_. She's in no shape to compete tonight." Roode shouted as the other Fortune members nodded, not happy about Bischoff's announcement.

"Hey. I looked it up." Bischoff defended, putting his hand up in mock concession. "It's there. It's what I was given to work with. I mean, Bobby. I know how much you care about Stella, and I was wondering what kind of shape her back was in after the incident from last week, but I can't just go back on what the card says when I've seen her here in the building walking around just fine. She hasn't given us a doctor's note or anything."

Mike Tenay scoffed. "Yeah, and I'm pretty sure Hogan and Bischoff would've just readily accepted a doctor's note from someone associated with Fortune. Right."

"But at the same time, I mean, my guys need something to do tonight. I've been looking into the eyes of these men all day. They've got so much hunger, so much desire, and I can't just let them go home empty-handed tonight. But," he drew out, shrugging. "You guys won't defend your tag team titles tonight. So I'm kinda left with only two choices here."

"One, is you reconsider on the earlier option one, and we indeed have Beer Money versus Matt Hardy and Chris Harris for the Impact Wrestling Tag Team Championship titles in that very ring tonight."

Storm rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses as he took the microphone from his tag team partner. "Bischoff. Are you deaf or just stupid?" He paused for a moment as the crowd applauded. "Did you _not_ hear Bobby Roode earlier? He isn't cleared to compete and I _know_ you've seen that doctor's note. Beer Money isn't going to be in the ring tonight, as much as we'd like to kick your boys' teeth down their throats."

"Well, it's nice to know that you have an adult attention span so I can actually finish what I've been saying. So, somebody help me, where was I again?" Bischoff asked, looking at the Immortal members before Ray whispered something in his ear. "Oh, yeah, I remember! Thanks, Bully. You're a real lifesaver, you know that?"

Daniels rolled his eyes at this before Bischoff redirected his attention their way. "Now, as I was saying. See, we could have that tag team title match tonight, _**or**_…we could see a few things change about that Winter vs. Stella matchup tonight."

All the members of Fortune suddenly looked worried as Bobby shook his head, before saying, off-mic, "Don't even think about it Bischoff."

Bischoff simply ignored them before he continued. "We could actually add Angelina Love legally to the match and making it Stella vs. Winter _and_ Angelina Love. We could also add in, say, I don't know, Matt Hardy as the special guest enforcer. Then we could add in, for example, Chris Harris, to be the guest timekeeper. Maybe even have Gunner, 'Big Poppa Pump' Scott Steiner, or even the new X-Division Champion Abyss be in Winter and Angelina's corner." The crowd booed loudly, unaware that Bischoff wasn't finished.

"And last but not least, if all that doesn't up the stakes enough…last but not least, we could also have Stella's career be put on the line here. Which means, if we were to see this handicap match, with an Immortal enforcer, an Immortal timekeeper, and an Immortal member in Winter and Angelina's corner? And more importantly, if Stella were to, say, lose this match? Well, then, its beddy-bye time for your little girlfriend's Impact Wrestling career!"

Bobby quickly grabbed the mic, a mix of worry, shock, and fury on his face. "Bischoff! She has done nothing to deserve that and you know it. Your boys attacked her last week when she had done nothing to them! What has she ever done to any of you? Nothing! You can't do this!"

"You ingrates turned against Immortal after we had given you everything, and you tried to leave us high and dry and cripple everything that we worked for!" Bischoff shouted back" Anybody who takes sides with you traitors gets exactly what's coming to 'em! You won't put your titles on the line that we helped you get back at the end of 2010 in the first place! Fine! I just hope you can sleep at night when you look in the mirror knowing that because of your actions, the woman you're in love with has been humiliated, destroyed, and most important of all, _fired_!"

Bobby just stared a Bischoff, flabbergasted, completely at a loss for what to do as Tenay and Taz continued their exchange for the viewers at home.

"Wait...in love with? Taz, do you have any idea what he's talking about?"

Taz merely shook his head. "No Mike, I really don't. I assume this is what Hardy and Bully Ray were teasing at early when they were talking about what Winter overheard."

"Bischoff, I don't know where you're getting your information from, but Stella and I are _just__friends_. So, you're not going to accomplish anything by throwing her under the bus like that."

Eric rolled his eyes. "First of all, I'm pretty sure the guys here have already explained where the information came from. And sure, maybe you're right. I mean, Winter could've misheard you, right? I mean, I really doubt it, but it is possible."

"But even if that's the case, Stella Lynn is still your friend. You expect me to believe for a second that you wouldn't be affected at all by your conscience if a close friend got fired because you were too afraid to put your tag team titles on the line a week after she came to the ring looking out for you? Because these are the cards you're left with, pal! Like it or not, you have no other choice! You seem to be forgetting the fact that on March 3rd, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were awarded on March 3rd with full control of all operations in this company! I call the shots, along with Hulk Hogan! We are in control!"

The crowd booed loudly at Bischoff's words, but he ignored them completely. "You had your chance to stand in our greatness and you blew it! There's your breaks, kid! Make your choice and live with it! Or I'll make it _for_ you!"

Bobby looked to Storm, the two friends having a nonverbal conversation, with the Tennessee Cowboy knowing exactly what his partner was thinking. He nodded, telling Bobby to do what he had to do. Roode sighed dejectedly before looking back to Bischoff. "If we do this, you'll cancel Stella's match tonight?"

"It'll be back to the original one-on-one, no strings attached." Bischoff informed with a faux-gracious smile.

Roode shook his head, still not content with the results. "I told you. She's in no shape to wrestle."

"And I told you, you failed to get me the proper documentation proving that before the match was put on the card. And she's walking around in the back just fine. I couldn't cancel it if I wanted to."

Storm shook his head before muttering off-mic. "Bulls**t."

"But, if we put the titles on the line, no Angelina Love, no Immortal involvement, and her career isn't at stake, right?" Roode confirmed.

"Absolutely. You got it."

"And the target on her back goes away? Your boys leave her alone from here on out?"

"You have my word." Bischoff said, putting his right hand up in earnest.

Roode frowned, looking to his partner once again. "I'm sorry James, but you know what I have to do here." He said off-mic, being met with an understanding nod from Storm.

Roode turned back to Bischoff, a dejected sigh escaping his lips. "Fine."

An enormous smile formed on Bischoff's lips. "Yes! Right answer! Now, it's been a pleasure doing business with you gentlemen, but Hulk's probably getting a little concerned, so we kinda have to go right now, okay, guys?" He gloated, before saying, in a sing-song voice, "See ya later! Don't forget to defend your titles tonight!"

Before he could leave, Chris Harris walked over and requested the mic. Bischoff quickly gave it to him.

"Hey, James! Old pal!" Harris said with a chuckle. "Looks like you're the one with the tough d**n luck this time, huh? Cause those golden babies on your shoulders are comin' home to Hardy and Harris tonight."

He then dropped the mic, as Immortal music came on.

Storm, always one to get the last word, grabbed the Fortune mic and glared at his former tag partner "Don't count yo' chickens before they hatch, boy. That's all I got left to say."

Immortal's music continued to play as the Fortune men all looked at one another, wondering how exactly they could get themselves out of this mess. Bobby looked the most upset as a result of the current situation. AJ placed a comforting hand on the tag champ's good shoulder, but he angrily shrugged it off before storming to the ropes, leaving the ring in a huff as Impact went to a commercial.

As the show came back, Robert Roode was seen storming into the locker room, slamming the door behind him. Storm looked to the others, who nodded, before following him in. The other men of Fortune ran their hands down their faces before sighing.

"This sucks man." Kaz complained.

AJ frowned. "How are we supposed to fight City Hall guys?" He asked, leaning against the wall dejectedly.

"We can't." Daniels said dejectedly. "They're just going to keep pulling stuff like this until someone in power can step up and stop them."

"AJ! Daniels! Kaz!"

Glancing over their shoulders, they saw Mick Foley hurrying towards them. "I just got here from a meeting across town and heard about what happened. Why did you guys play along with it?"

"There's no way Bobby was going to let Stella take his spot on the chopping block. You know that as well as we do." AJ explained, causing the hardcore legend to shake his head.

"No, I mean, why didn't you wait and come talk to me?"

The men of Fortune looked at him confused, causing Foley to shake his head sadly. "Had you guys not played right into Bischoff's hands, I could have put a stop to this. There's no way myself or the network would let him treat a knockout as a pawn, especially a well-respect and fan favorite."

"Well, go call the network and put a stop to it then." Kaz urged, as the other men looked slightly relieved. However, their apprehension returned in full when they saw the frown that was still on Foley's face.

"Roode and Storm already agreed. My hands are tied. I'm sorry."

The other men sighed dejectedly, Daniels even cursing under his breath before Foley held up his hand. "What I can do though, is make a no-contact clause between Immortal and Fortune for the night."

"Stella too?" AJ quipped.

"Yes, her too." Foley quickly agreed. "If anyone from either side touches the other outside of an official, sanctioned match, then whoever instigates the contact will be suspended indefinitely."

He clapped AJ on the shoulder. "But, from now on, if something like this happens, come talk to me before you make any rash decision. I'm here to keep Bischoff and Hogan in check. And, trust me, I like my job." He explained, before he walked down the hallway, but not before throwing over his shoulder. "Tell Bobby and James I said good luck."

TNA-TNA-TNA-TNA-TNA

Kazarian looked at the tag team champions as they finished getting prepared for their match. "I still don't feel right about this. You guys are being thrown to the wolves tonight and we can't do anything." His anger rising along with his voice.

"This f***ing sucks." James said angrily, throwing an empty beer bottle across the room, watching as it shattered into a million pieces.

"We didn't have a choice." Bobby said softly, looking up from the ground with regret in his eyes, feeling as though his feelings had been munipulated by Bischoff and the rest of Immortal to put them in the situation they were currently in.

Kaz nodded. "We know. But, hey, I'm going to go find Daniels and Styles. I'm sure we'll see you before your match."

He opened the door and was met by Stella Lynn, already in ring gear, hand raised in a fist as though she were about to knock. "Oh, hey Stella."

She gave him a weak smile. "Hey Frankie. Is Bobby in here?"

"Yeah." He motioned her into the room before yelling. "Lady in the room fellas. Make sure you're decent." He gave her a nod and grin before leaving the room. James looked up at her as she walked in.

"James, I…"

He gave her a nod. "I know." He said standing up as Bobby watched the brunette woman. The cowboy gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll be out in the hallway."

The door closed behind him before the room was filled with silence, Bobby and Stella looking at one another, not sure who should make the first move or what exactly that should be.

"You don't need to do this Bobby." She finally said, causing him to shake his head.

"Yeah, I do. I'm not going to let you lose your dream or get hurt because of us."

"Bobby…"

"No, Stella. This is happening. That's it."

"So, there ain't no way to talk you out of it?" She asked with a sigh.

Bobby shook his head again. "Afraid not."

Silence once again filled the room as the tension once again found itself nearly tangible in the air.

She gently broke the silence. "Is it true? What Hardy said out there?"

"Stells." He said with a sigh, avoiding eye contact with her. "Now isn't the time to talk about this."

"Really Bobby, because I think it's a perfect time to talk about it." She argued.

"Stella." He said softly, finally looking up at her. "Look at everything that's happened the past few weeks, even tonight. Immortal is already targeting you. Hell, last week, you got attacked just for coming out there to check on me. And tonight Bischoff used how I…we…feel about you to blackmail us into getting what he wants." He looked down sadly. "He's going to keep doing that."

"That doesn't answer my question Bobby." She placed her hand on her hip.

"What do you want me to do here Stells?"

"I want you to forget about all this Immortal bulls*** for five seconds and just give me a straight answer."

He sighed, before standing up, turning around and rummaging through his locker. After a few tense moments of silence, he scratched the back of his head. "I don't know Stella. I mean, you're my friend." He started, before he continued. Slightly stumbling over his words. "You're funny, and, and, you're smart. You-you have that adorable accent. You're honestly the sweetest person I've ever met and being around you, well, it makes me happy…"

She cut him off. "What are you trying to say Bobby?"

Bobby slammed his locker shut before turning around. "I love you!" He practically shouted, causing Stella to take a step back in surprise. "I think I'm in love with you Stella, alright? There. I said it." He repeated softer before turning back to the locker. "But it doesn't matter anyway."

She stared at the back of his head, mouth slightly open as she gave him a look of disbelief. "How can you stand there say that it doesn't matter, Bobby?"

He faced her again. "Just like I said Stells. It doesn't matter how I feel about you or how badly I want 'us' to happen, because the moment it does, Bischoff has another chess piece and I won't put you in the line of fire like that. I won't."

"I'm not scared of Bischoff. Or Immortal." She shook her head vigrously.

"I know you're not. But you know as well as I do what they're capable of. I can't let what happened last week or what happened tonight happen again."

"Do you want 'us'" she motioned between the two of them, "to happen?"

"Stells." He sighed. "It's a lot more complicated than that."

"No, it's not. It's a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer, Bobby. Forget about Immortal, forget about Fortune, TNA, all of it. And just think about you and me. Together. Do you want that?" She took a step towards him.

He looked down at the ground, contemplating his response, before he finally looked up and the two locked eyes.

"Yes…" he looked down again before continuing. "But we can't. Not whi…"

He was suddenly cut off by Stella closing the gap between them; she stood on her tiptoes and crashed her lips against his, resting one hand on his chest to maintain her balance. Bobby stood startled, his mind working to catch up with everything around him. Before he could react, Stella broke the kiss and looked up at him, still merely inches away.

"You sound like something off one of those lame self-sacrificing superhero movies." She said softly. "For once in your life Bobby, stop worrying about everybody else and just do what makes you happy."

He looked down at her and nodded. "Okay." He muttered, before he brought his lips down to meet hers, wrapping his good arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him. Stella's hand that wasn't resting on his chest soon found itself tangled in his hair as the kiss picked up in intensity and Bobby backed her towards the wall, pinning her between him and it

After a few moments, the door swung open to the locker room. "Bobby, we gotta go…" James Storm stopped short whenever he saw the scene in front of him while the other members of Fortune filed in behind him. "Well hot d***." He said, loudly, gaining Stella and Bobby's attention as they broke the kiss but stayed close to one another.

Stella glanced over Bobby's shoulder, blushing slightly as she saw the other members of Fortune in the room with them. She hid her head in Bobby's good shoulder for a moment, trying to hid her embarrassment as his good arm stayed wrapped around her, holding her close to him.

"About d*** time." Kazarian muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I take it you two finally talked." AJ stated as Daniels shook his head, chuckling.

"Doesn't look they were _talking_ to me."

"Hush." Bobby said over his shoulder before turning back to look at Stella who was smiling up at him. He rested his forehead on hers.

"As much as I hate to break this up, Bobby, we've got to get to the ring."

The smile that had been on Stella's face was now replaced with a frown. "Please don't do this Bobby. We'll figure something else out."

He shook his head gently against hers. "There's nothing to figure out Stells. I'm not letting you pay the price for our beef with Immortal."

"But your shoulder…"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take." He said, stepping back a few inches to take the sling off. Once removed, he rotated his arm a few times, working his shoulder as he attempted to bite back a groan and his face contorted in pain. He glanced back at Stella, who's bottom lip was trembling slightly. He stepped back towards her, taking her face in his hands and kissing her once again. "Stay in here with the guys until I get back. I don't want to run the risk of Immortal coming after you during the match."

"Be careful."

He nodded, flashing her the best reassuring smile he could muster, knowing he was walking right into Immortal's trap. "I will be." He quickly kissed her on the forehead before walking towards the door, where his tag team partner was waiting. "I don't trust Immortal to follow this 'non contact' thing. Keep her in here and keep her safe." He quietly instructed the other members of Fortune, who nodded as James walked through the door. Bobby followed, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder at Stella before closing it behind him.

The three men walked over to the Georgia woman who had wrapped her arms around herself, looking quite upset and tense. AJ placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You okay Stella Mae?"

She shook her head. "He shouldn't be out there. Neither of them should. They're going to get hurt protecting me."

"They'll be fine El. Now, come on, let's go sit down and watch."

The self-dubbed "Cool Cats" were already in the ring as cameras cut there, garnering boos and jeers from the crowd.

The crowd reaction almost instantly turned around when Beer Money's music hit, and the duo made their way out of the tunnel. They nodded at the crowd, glad to have the support before they made their way to the ring, with Roode clearly favoring his arm, keeping it close to his body and hardly swinging it.

They slowly got into the ring, staring down their opponents before Storm turned to Roode.

"I've got this one, Bobby."

"You sure?"

"Unless you've got a third arm or a magic pill to fix your bad one that I don't know about, then yeah, I'm pretty sure."

Roode nodded his thanks and understanding before stepping through the ropes and onto the apron.

Storm and Harris quickly locked up, with Storm gaining the upper hand. He hit a knee to the gut before putting Harris into a headlock. Harris broke free and pushed Storm against the ropes, sending him running. He attempted a clothesline, but the Tennessee Cowboy ducked it then came back with a shoulder block. Storm maintained control for a few minutes, with Harris occasionally getting in a good strike or offensive move, but the tag champ always came back. However, Harris eventually caught Storm with a kick to the gut and a DDT, then hurried to his corner and tagged in Hardy.

The North Carolina native came into the match like a bull in a china shop; clotheslining a slowly standing storm before hitting a low drop kick on Roode, sending him flying off the apron. He soon went to work on Storm, stomping him before hitting him with an array of offensive moves, including two big suplexes and a backbreaker. He soon set Storm up for a Twist of Hate, but James was able to shove him off. When Hardy turned around, he was met with a superkick. The two men laid on the mat, exhausted, slowly making their way to the corners.

Finally, they both tagged in their partners, garnering a big pop from the crowd. Roode clotheslined Harris down, then turned to meet a now standing Hardy with a sidewalk slam. The action caused a jolt of pain to spread through his shoulder. He grasped it in pain, but quickly shook it off as Harris made his way back to his feet. The two exchanged chops, before Harris hit Roode in the shoulder, in which he gained the upper hand and Irish Whipped Bobby into the corner, the impact causing the tag champ to let out a gasp of pain. Harris came running at him, but he dove out of the way, making his way to the corner to Storm, who had thankfully gained his breath. The two hit a double suplex before Storm landed a Last Call Superkick on Harris. Hardy attempted to rush in, but Roode intercepted with a clothesline on his good arm, as his partner thankfully picked up the win.

The tension was almost visibly seen leaving Storm's shoulders as they handed him his title belt. He nodded his thanks to the ref before looking over at Bobby, who was leaning against a turnbuckle, clutching his arm, a look of pain on his face.

Storm sighed, standing as quickly as he could and walked to his partner, taking the second belt from the referee in the process.

"You okay?" He asked, resting a hand on the back of Bobby's neck, causing him to look up at him.

"Yeah." He said through somewhat gritted teeth. "Just…jarred it a few times." He noticed the concern in his friend's eyes and quickly continued. "I didn't do anything to hurt it worse. Just going to be feeling it tomorrow."

"Well, if you're lucky, you may be able to get Stella to…"

"James…" Roode narrowed his eyes, not appreciating his friends attempt at humor.

He held his hands up innocently. "I was just going to say she might cook you a good meal which should make you feel better." However, the twinkle in his eye gave away that he had intended to mock his friends' new relationship, in a loving way of course.

"You okay?" Bobby asked, as James nodded.

"Never better. Now, let's get backstage so you can let Stella know you're alright before she comes out here."

Off camera at Gorilla, Stella was on the other side of the curtain, anxiously pacing back and forth slightly as she and the other members of Fortune waited on the tag team champs.

She let out a sigh of relief as the two men walked through the curtain, Bobby in obvious pain as he cradled his arm to his chest, hoping to dull the throbbing pain that was coursing through his shoulder.

"Bobby." She breathed quietly, hurrying over to him. She began to throw her arms around him but stopped short, unwilling to become the cause of anymore of his pain.

He fought through the pain long enough to flash a fake smile. "It's just a flesh wound." He joked.

She grinned up at him, appreciating his attempt to lighten the mood, but the concern never left her eyes.

"It doesn't hurt any worse than it did before the match." He encouraged, before a frown crossed his face for the first time. "Are you sure you're okay to wrestle? I'll find you a way out of this."

She immediate caught the tone in Bobby's voice. And she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if she told him she was too hurt to wrestle, he wouldn't stop trying to get her out of it until Hogan agreed, or Bobby or Eric Bischoff left the Impact Zone on a stretcher.

"Yeah Bobby, I'm fine." She leaned back, hoping to stretch out a bit, but the pain that went shooting through her spine caused a groan of pain to escape her lips.

He shook his head, running a hand through his continuously wet hair. "Stella, I'm putting a stop to this. There's no way I'm letting you…"

He was cut off by Stella placing her finger over his lips, silencing him. "You have done plenty, Bobby. Let me go do what I do." She urged.

He opened his mouth to argue, but AJ shook his head. "Bobby. Trust me when I tell you there is no point arguing with a southern woman. You won't win."

Bobby frowned, but nodded with a sigh before locking eyes with Stella. "Just be careful, alright?"

She nodded, glancing over his shoulder as her eyes landed on Winter, who growled Stella's way.

Roode followed her gaze as Winter's music hit and she and Angelina made their way to the ring. He frowned. "I thought he said no Angelina. I…"

"Bobby," Stella cut off, shaking her head as she waited for him to look down at her. "She's just at ringside. I'll be fine." She promised, as her own music began to play.

"Be careful." He urged. "I'll wait here until your match is over."

She shook her head. "Go get ice!" She tossed over her should before busting through the curtain, earning a rather large pop from the crowd.

Inside the ring, she glared at Winter as the referee rang the bell and the two squared off. Winter rushed toward Stella, but she ducked out of the way. However, her opponent stopped herself before she hit the ropes and turned to kick Stella in the back. The Georgia woman let out a shout of pain, bending backward slightly before Winter pounced. She hit her with a few kidney shots before hitting her with a reverse DDT. She went for the cover, but Stella kicked out after two. Winter then stomped on Stella for a few moments before her opponent took her legs out from under her, causing her to crash down to the mat as well.

The two slowly made their way to their feet, before Stella took the opportunity to gain the upperhand. She rushed at Winter and hit her with a flurry of lefts and rights before a knee to the gut. She whipped her into the corner, and then ran at her, hitting her with a running elbow, then snapmared her out of the corner. She stood, holding her back gently as she waited for her to stand, but Winter shot up and rushed at Stella, clotheslining her over the top rope.

She was about to follow, but the referee held her back, distracting him. With his back turned, Angelina waited for Stella to stand up, then hit her with a very painful Backstabber type move. Stella's shout of pain echoed throughout the arena as she lay on the ground, holing her back as a mask of pain covered her face. The referee turned around, causing Angelina to raise her hands innocently and back away. Winter rolled out of the ring and slid Stella back inside, before following her in. She put the girl back on her feet before hitting her Swinging Slam Backbreaker finisher.

She quickly pinned her and got the victory, as she snarled at the camera and her arm was raised in victory. She and Angelina looked at Stella threateningly, but decided against it and exited the ring as the official knelt down next to Stella.

"Stella, you alright?"

She shook her head, still clutching her back, as she laid her head on the mat in pain and exhaustion, gritting her teeth. The referee motioned for more officials to come out to the ring as he helped Stella roll towards the apron. Once there, two more officials were now there, and helped the woman to her feet, allowing her to use them as a crutch as she hobbled up the ramp amongst scattered applause.

As soon as they came through the curtain, they were met with the concerned faces of Fortune, especially Bobby Roode, who stepped forward before the others.

He gently took her from the referees, allowing her to lean against his good side. "I got her from here. Thanks guys." He said gently.

The officials nodded as they walked away and Bobby looked down at Stella, concerned. "You alright?"

She looked up at him for a moment, considering lying, but soon shook her head. "Trainers." She groaned out in pain.

Bobby nodded, "Let's go get you some ice." He began leading her down the hall, but she stopped and stumbled in his grasp, letting out a groan of pain as she nearly fell to her knees, stopped from meeting the cold, unforgiving cement by only his strong arm.

He glanced at the others, knowing that Stella was in no shape to walk at the moment, but that he couldn't carry her with his bad shoulder. "Lean on me all you need." He urged, as she reluctantly rested her entire weight against him, unable to maintain the load on her own. "I've got you." He spoke quietly as he led her toward the training room.

TNA-TNA-TNA-TNA-TNA

Stella laid down on the couch, a heat pad on her back as the members of Fortune sat around the living room and Bobby walked in from the kitchen, a bottle of water and Tylenol in his hand. He handed them to Stella and sat down next to her, as the other members of Fortune looked at them questioningly.

"So…" AJ started awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"So…what?" Bobby asked, looking at his stable mates but looking at Stella repeatedly as he glanced around the room.

"Well, what's the deal with you guys?" AJ asked abruptly, causing the others to roll their eyes at his lack of tact. "What? You were all thinking it anyway."

Kaz began to protest, but was cut off by Bobby, who waved him off with a laugh. "Nah, it's okay. We were going to talk about it anyway." He explained with a shrug before looking down at Stella, who nodded as well.

"So you guys," Daniels motioned between them, "Are _together_ together, right?"

The two in questioned looked at one another before Bobby nodded. "Yeah." He smiled, down at Stella, who flashed a brilliant smile back.

"When exactly did this happen?" Kaz asked curiously.

"About fifteen seconds before you guys walked into the locker room." Stella explained, as Roode gave the others an unimpressed look.

"Yeah, thanks for that by the way."

The others chuckled at Roode's annoyance with their untimely arrival.

Daniels raised an eyebrow. "So, there were no cameras around when this happened?"

Roode shook his head.

"So…" James leaned back, propping his feet on the coffee table as he took a swig of his beer. "How was the kiss?" He wiggled his eyebrows, causing Roode to narrow his eyes.

"James…"

"Jimmy-J, you know a lady doesn't kiss and tell." He was cut off by Stella, who was grinning ear to ear, Storm's attempt to embarrass the couple clearly not working.

"Does Immortal know?" AJ finally asked, causing the lighthearted mood that had previously been in the room to drop completely. "I mean, Stella Mae, I'm not saying you can't take care of yourself, but..."

"We all saw what happened last week and tonight." Kaz finished, knowing where AJ was trying to go with this train of thought. "If and when Immortal finds about this, it's gonna be open season."

"I know." Bobby said, his arm that was resting around Stella instinctively tightened. "And that's why this," he motioned between himself and Stella, "doesn't leave this room, at least not until we say so. If Immortal doesn't know, they can't use it against us."

"Do you really think you can keep it quite for that long? Are you going to be able to resist the urge to make it known that you all are together despite Immortal's games?" Kaz reasoned.

"And they're not stupid." Daniels continued. "We all heard what they said tonight about how you feel about Stella, Bobby. Don't you think it'll be a little suspicious that there's no awkward tension between the two of you?"

"Well, we talked about this as we drove back over here and tried to figure this all out for ourselves. We know though that we're going to do our best to keep our personal and professional lives separate. We've all know the track records for couples who try to transition their relationship from outside of the business to inside of it. It's too risky at this point and neither of us want to be accused of riding the others' coattails."

"And about Immortal being suspicious?" AJ asked, knowing by the frown on Bobby's face he hadn't considered that.

"Well, I…"

"We'll figure something out." Stella said firmly, but comfortingly, grabbing Bobby's hand with her own, intertwining their fingers. "This is something we both want and we're not going to let Immortal or anyone else ruin it for us. We'll figure out the little things as they come along."

James sat his beer down, and a somewhat unusual serious look crossed his face as he looked at the couple. "Well, I can promise you this much, Peach, Bobby. Fortune and ol' James Storm here…we've got your back."

The others nodded in agreement, as the couple smiled at one another, both the happiest any of their friends had seen them in a long time.

"Thanks boys."

"Yeah, thanks guys. I know you didn't sign up for this when we formed Fo…"

"Hey." AJ cut him off. "We agreed to make sure the Originals and the guys who actually helped build this company didn't take a backseat to these has-beens. We also agreed to look out for our own and make sure to keep Bischoff and Hogan in check. We're a family, Bobby. We'll help you anyway we can."

Roode nodded, relieved at his friend's commitment to him.

"Just remember," James began, taking a drink of his beer before grinning, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Don't be doing nothing in the locker room unless you put a sock on the door to warn the rest of us first."

"James." Bobby nearly growled as both he and Stella's faces turned bright red and the rest of the Fortune team laughed loudly.

**Well, there it was. Hope you liked it. I hope to update again soon, but until then feel free to read my other stories. And, of course, review. Those are motivations. I'm more likely to set aside time to write if you I know there are people waiting for it. Thanks again guys! Love ya!**

***Casey*  
>~1 Corin. 4:8-9~ <strong>


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